


Raised in the Sands of Tatooine

by devilinthedetails



Series: A Hundred Drabbles [9]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Child Abuse, Child slavery, Dreams, Family, Freedom, Friendship, Gen, Podracing, Slavery, Tatooine (Star Wars), Tatooine Slave Culture, Visions of the Future, change, light - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:21:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25921258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilinthedetails/pseuds/devilinthedetails
Summary: Anakin is defined by his childhood as a slave on Tatooine.
Series: A Hundred Drabbles [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1880980
Kudos: 59





	Raised in the Sands of Tatooine

Down to the Wire (or Explosive) 

He hadn’t expected the consequences of cutting that crimson wire to be so explosive, Anakin thought ruefully after snipping the wrong wire in an effort to repair a broken droid into something useful. 

“Are you trying to fix that droid or blow up my shop, boy?” Watto’s wings whirred in agitation. “I pay you to fix droids, not blow up my shop.” 

Watto didn’t pay Anakin anything at all—work without rest and without pay was what it meant to be a slave on Tatooine—but pointing that out to Watto would only earn him a cuff to the ear.

Scary Speed and Blazing Crash

“Doesn’t going so fast in your pod ever scare you?” Anakin’s mom kissed a burn on his cheek that testified to another attempt at finishing the Boonta Eve Classic that had literally gone up in flames. The med droids had rubbed a cooling, healing unguent on his seared skin, but it still hurt until his mother’s chapped lips kissed away the pain.

“It doesn’t scare me to go so fast.” Anakin wished he could explain how free—how unlike a slave— he felt when he was flying fast. “It’s just the sudden blazing crash at the end that scares me.” 

Thought that Counts

“Do japor snippets really bring luck to whoever wears them?” Anakin asked his mom as she stared at a stall full of jewelry she could never afford to buy. “Can wood truly make somebody lucky?” 

“Maybe it’s not the wood that makes someone lucky. Perhaps it’s just thinking the wood is lucky that does the trick.” His mom turned from the stall, smiling at his questions. “Maybe it’s the thought that counts.” 

“I’ll carve you a japor snippet myself.” Anakin slipped his hand around his mother’s, squeezing her warm fingers between his own. “Then you won’t have to buy one.” 

Absorb the Light

“That’s a beautiful awning.” Anakin gazed admiringly up at the new awning stretched above Jira’s fruit stand. 

“I wove it myself.” Jira’s wrinkled face shone with pride. “It’s not just meant to be beautiful but also functional, absorbing the light and heat of the sun so my skin doesn’t burn. Even the beauty on Tatooine has to be functional, remember that, Annie.” 

Anakin promised he would, placed an order for two pallies and grinned when he saw Jira slip him an extra pallie for free. Clearly today Jira was going to pretend to be too old and senile to count. 

Dream of Changing the World

Anakin longed to change the world so much it invaded his dreams. When he closed his eyes at night, images of escaping slavery and Tatooine himself and then coming back as a strong man—a warrior—to free all the slaves flared stark red in his mind, but he didn’t just free the slaves. He killed all the masters with a sword of scarlet light—a blade like the Jedi wielded— that cut cruelly and deeply as injustice. Yes, Anakin wanted to change the world so much he dreamed about it, and the intensity of his dreams made him shiver.


End file.
